The Bar

The beer menu as of November 8th, 2005 The Cantina has around 45 different beers on tap. As of 4/16/06, Cantina just added Blue Moon White Ale and Sam Adams Summerfest to the list. Both very good beers.

Like most bars in Davis, the well alcohol is basically headache juice, so if you want something good pay more and up the quality. Basic well drinks and shots start at $3.00 and go in price with better brands of alcohol. This means that the drinks at the 'tina are somewhat cheaper than other places.

The bar has a weekday happy hour from 5-7, and evening drink specials from 9-11pm Thursday-Saturday. The evening specials include any draft pint for $1.50. This special makes their draft beer cheaper than the purchase price of a six-pack in most instances.

The Night Scene

Nighttime at the Cantina LOTS of ass can be found at the Cantina, especially on Thursday night when they play top 40 songs. Friday nights are generally populated with graduate students sucking down pitcher after pitcher. Saturday nights can be happening but it's a little hit or miss.

Also, on Tuesday nights, the Cantina has Karaoke Night. Beginning around 10 pm usually, the karaoke man pulls out the machine and the songbooks and you can sing to your heart's content. Frequently, members of the University Chorus and California Aggie Marching Band-Uh! can be seen rockin' out on Tuesdays.

The Restaurant

The only vestiges of its Mexican-food past are chips and the decor. Cantina now serves a BBQ, steak fish and burger-infused menu. All burgers can be made as veggie-burgers, and the Chef, Stan, has nurturing what seemed to many as a rough transition (Mexican food to BBQ+American food) as an opportunity to move the food in a more gourmet direction in terms of flavor and quality. This is one of the best food values in Davis in terms of getting a full meal for under $8.

Comments:

2005-12-26 01:24:00 History: Wheelworks was originally located in this building ca. 1984 —PaulThober

2006-03-19 23:33:31 Not vegetarian friendly at ALL. Not a criticism of any other part of the restaurant / bar but for a place that hosts a lot of progressive groups' meetings and charitable acts, there are basically no veggie options, even appetizers. —NotTires

Their veggie burger is actually one of the best I've ever had, though, not being a vegetarian and therefore not concerned enough about such things to ask, I can't vouch for how it is prepared. —JessicaLuedtke

Since I commented originally, their menu seems to have changed. Now it there are a few veggie options, generally fish, and a salad, a cream-cheese-walnut-pesto sandwich (?!) and possibly the veggie burger that JessicaLuedtke mentioned. And onion rings. Still could do with a lot of improvement, but now at least vegetarians won't be limited to only chips and onion rings.

Actually I've heard the fish there is not vegetarian friendly. I've had multiple vegetarian friends tell me that when they ordered the fish there they ended up with some type of meat rather than a vegetable. Just a heads up for the vegetarians here. —BradBenedict

Not that it really matters since they're closed now, but....fish isn't vegetarian! People that eat fish only are pescatarian, not vegetarian.

2006-04-08 23:30:52 I tend to find this place kind of slimey. What I like about Cantina is that its generally not overly crowded (I've been twice, once on Friday and once Saturday) and the bar is fairly accessible (unlike Soga's). I've eaten here once and don't remember anything about the experience, but with the way the establishment is run when it's a bar, I'm not sure I'll be eating there again. —SS

2006-04-14 13:29:09 Probably the best beer selection in davis, though there's more variations of "European Pale Lager" than I would like. But servering Old Foghorn on Tap, at the same price as all the other beer is fantastic. As a beer fan, dig around, you can find something. —CharlesGeorge

2006-12-05 12:50:01 As another former employee at the Cantina (bartender, waiter 5 years) I have to disagree with the claim above. The tables are not sticky due to "hungover bartenders." the bar is cleaned every night after the place is closed, and the tables are the first to be wiped down. If the tables were sticky it was probably later at night when this was experienced, which is understandable with all the people drinking done at them. Also the bartenders are not allowed to work a closing shift followed by an opening one. The kitchen contrary to the previous claim is kept clean. The chef Stan was a military cook and runs the kitchen accordingly. I have been present for numerous health inspections that were passed without a problem. I've been eating there for five years and never gotten sick once. There are numerous and valid complaints about any bar and perhaps the way it is run at times, but the drinks are great and the burgers are excellent. —JarrettNoble

2006-12-11 23:41:34 you sometimes have to yell at the DJ to cut the wack music —TerencePhan

2007-02-03 13:16:57 Happy Hour ($2.50 for well drinks and select tap beer) from 5p to 7p on weekdays. —DanteGarzon

2007-02-16 18:45:19 This place os POOR, no attractive females and the people working the door, especially a square by the name of CODY, seem to forget this place is a BAR not a classy nightclub or lounge. I have been asked to remove my hat on numerous occasions while many other people inside the bar are wearing hats. The staff are HATERS. —MikeJones

2007-02-22 12:16:34 If the phrase "let's go to Cantina" is ever uttered by any member of my group, all girls present collectively go "ew." I didn't know they had free WiFi though. It's good to know that between watching some dude get his skull pummeled and seeing some hooch puke in the corner, I can whip out my laptop and check my Myspace. —BriannaBetancourt

"2007-02-28 14:57:30" Wow— regular (non happy - hour) draft pints are now $4.50, and premium (highlighted on the beer list) are $5.00! That is a big jump, and too expensive for Davis, IMO. A jip, really. At least they could have raised the prices incrementally. Happy hour prices are $2.50, up from $2.00, IIRC. —MarcRehfuss

2007-03-06 15:41:55 Those prices are standard all over davis, the prices for kegs of beer have risen, plus wages went up in California. Econ 1 man, wages go up and so do prices, check the menus at all restaurants in town its happened all over. Inflation principle. Switch to hard liquor if you can't handle the price hike its more cost effective. —JarrettNoble

2007-03-06 20:31:06 The Cantina paired with CalPIRG to for an 18+ Night and raised over $2100 for Rebuilding New Orleans. Major Kudos. —MaxMikalonis

2007-03-10 16:26:41 $2 wells and $1.50 pints of beer. 9-11 PM Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Can't get a better deal than that in Davis. —DanteGarzon

2007-03-21 01:28:04 Next time you are partaking in a tasty beverage, order a moony/moonie, half guinness (hmm so good) half Lindemanns Framboise. Looks like a black/tan only red. Comes in 8 ounce glass, it is a pounder drink (like carbomb) not a sipper. Also known as a Mike's Moonie but he has not worked there for like a decade now. Highly Rec, best drink.......... —JarrettNoble

2007-05-23 14:31:02 I heard they were going to be shutting their doors for good in the weeks to come.....Anybody else heard this???? Could just be a rumor. —MikeJones

2007-05-28 20:38:25 Wow, so many drunk nights here, so many nights worked here, so many drunken work nights here. Can't believe this place is shutting down. Say what you want about this place. But you could always go there and get annihilated and watch all the other drunk people. Man if those walls could talk, there would be a lot of people interested in listening. —JarrettNoble

2007-05-28 22:37:44 I think Cantina's closure is a sad moment for Davis. As with Cantina, the commercial landlord can always opt not to renew a lease, but Davis is losing here. This was a place that served students, locals, and hosted countless dinners and meetings for davis groups, not to mention all the work it did with charitible organizations in a variety of ways... and what is it being replaced with? A "conference certer" for a glorified Motel 6... Hopefully they're planning to refurbish the hotel as well. —JaimeRaba

2007-06-05 16:59:34 is there anything we can do to stop them from closing? protest? get mad? burn down hallmark? (probably get us in a lot of trouble) this is really sad... davis is going to die without them. —DerekFung

2007-06-06 20:07:09 You know it's funny. Like many of my friends—especially when I was in school—we'd dismiss Cantina as a meat market, and on certain (=Thursday) nights, it basically is—no arguments from anyone. But the people who disliked Cantina perhaps never got around to really enjoying themselves with a group of friends there, or coming in on a more mellow night (Friday through Wednesday) where there is even room enough to just hang out and chill and have a conversation. Maybe someday there will be a BIG sophia's bar (excellent and classy but cramped due to space limitations), that would be a great way to deal with the loss of one of Davis' few roomy social spaces. —JaimeRaba

2007-06-07 16:45:37 We picked up some food from Cantina last Saturday and asked about the closing - the guy on the phone told us they were closing for the summer but would be re-opening? Anyone else heard this? —AshleyRummel

2007-06-08 10:45:06 They wont be reopening, TRUST ME. I would bet my paycheck on that. It is simply a last ditch effort to lose as little business as possible in their final weeks of operation. —MikeJones

2007-06-16 11:49:16 My good friends who works at the hotel says it will be a nightclub as well. It will be more upscale, comparable to some midtown nightclubs. They will renovate it almost to the studs (if not more) and come back with a dual-purpose spot. The hotel saw the profitable Cantina and wanted to acquire it for themselves. —Eleana

More likely the owners will renovate it to bare earth and start over, which will take longer, but end up with a more flexible usable space. rocksanddirt

More history: JB's Power Equipment was also located here for several years before moving to their present location on Olive Drive. DonShor

2007-10-20 14:53:43 As of yesterday, October 19th 2007, Cantina del Cabo is not merely closed... it is GONE. The wrecking equipment was still in process, but the front, back and roof were knocked down. Gone! —neiljrubenking

2009-05-22 00:29:54 Was just thinking about how I miss the Cantina today. —JaimeRaba

The Cantina flourished before commercialization turned downtown into a no-lounge zone. When personalities strutted the sidewalks, instead of consumers on the furtive prowl for "bargains" with as much enchantment and soul as the bubble gum that used to come in packages of baseball cards. SolidSender

Oh, how well I remember those days that ol' SolidSender speaks of. No fancy-shmancy commercialism then. The days when cattle roamed freely in the streets—dirt streets, which is why those personalities did their struttin' on the sidewalks!—when the good folks of Davis bought what they could by exchanging shells and beads with the few local merchants there were, and, dad gummit, when we lynched anyone who rode into town and called himself a consumer, especially if he was lookin' for a bargain. DavidRobinson

Wow, and do you remember the flood which floated the cattle here on Noah's Ark as well, Mr. Memory? And before them the sinners, er, I mean consumers? SolidSender

Those were good days: I once saw a man eat fifty eggs. I thought before that "no man can eat fifty eggs", but by the ghod of Davis, he did.

2011-08-05 10:09:05 They blew it when they tried to make this place a steak house. Still kind of weird that the building itself was demolished and replaced so fast, but makes sense, obviously. Used to be a good place to play darts, drink decent beer (though they ran out of several beers like Guinness way too often). —OldDavis73

2011-10-17 14:07:14 Thursday night, a constant commute back and forth from Cantina to Paragon. Cantina had an excellent beer selection, pretty decent food, and was always packed on a Thursday night. RIP Cantina. —Jeffrey9

2011-10-31 12:46:12 I'm still mourning this place! I had so many happy memories here even if many others didn't.